Technology is always
evolving. EPoX, a long time maker of motherboards also has ventures into the
communications sector. Today, they release their first motherboard that
implements Bluetooth wireless technology: the EP-4BEAV, or "beaver" as
EPoX likes to call it. The 4BEAV is based on the Intel 845D, but is optimized to
support Intel's latest 533 MHz FSB Pentium 4s. The complementing Bluetooth
header revolutionizes the personal connectivity market by providing freedom from
wired connections; enabling links between mobile computers, mobile phones,
portable handheld devices, and connectivity to the Internet.

About the Company:

Over time, the EPoX brand name
has become synonymous
with quality and performance motherboards. In the past, EPoX produced countless
motherboards, many of which were renown for its excellent build, unique features, and
great performance. EPoX has used VIA motherboard chipsets for the longest time. VIA's more
recent KT133 and KT266 family chipsets were incorporated into extremely popular EPoX
mainboards, like the 8KTA+ and 8KHA+. EPoX also made many other excellent motherboards
using AMD, SiS, and Intel chipsets as well. Today, Hardware Extreme will evaluate EPoX's
4BEAV motherboard utilizing Intel's 845D northbridge.

The Motherboard:

EPoX 4BEAV

(Click on image for
close-up)

It's a green PCB! A green PCB
may be old-fashioned, but it still looks cool.

The EPoX 4G4A+ is a
clean-looking motherboard. It has six Sanyo 3300 uF (micro-Farad) and four
Teapo 220 uF capacitors, three inductors, and four voltage regulators around
the CPU socket to ensure a good electric signal. Similarly, four Teapo 1500 uF and
smaller capacitors straddle the three 184-pin DDR memory slots.

In comparison to an Intel 845E-based
motherboard our website tested recently, this EPoX motherboard has one additional memory
slot. Unfortunately, that does not allow for more RAM support, as the Intel 845 series of
chipsets will only allow up to 2-GB of DDR RAM or four memory banks. A double-sided stick
of RAM takes up two banks. A single-sided one uses one bank. The use of two double-sided
modules in two DIMM slots fills all four available banks. The EPoX manual included with
the motherboard package clearly delineates on page 3-6 which memory configurations work.

Located right of the PCI slots is a
VIA VT6202 chipset for USB 2.0.

To the lower-right sector of the 4G4A+ is
an Intel 82801BA southbridge chipset, CMOS battery, the
BIOS, FDD connector, and EPoX debug LED. The Winbond W83627HF-AW I/O chip has
moved to the other side, to the left of the last few PCI slots. It was
surprising to see no EPoX patent DEBUG LED.

The Intel 82845 northbridge is
sheltered by
a cosmetically re-designed EPoX-branded heat-sink that resembles a ThermalTake
Orb sink. From an
enthusiast's view, it is reassuring to see a cooling fan.
Beneath the heat-sink is an Intel northbridge that resembles a smaller-died FCPGA
processor.

The Intel 82845 northbridge
incorporates three important chipset components:

The Graphic Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)
provides the interconnect between the DDR SDRAM and the system logic.

The I/O Controller Hub (ICH4) provides the
I/O subsystem with access to the rest of the system. Additionally, it integrates many I/O
functions, such as USB, Ultra ATA, LAN, etc.

The Firmware Hub (FWH) component is a key
element to enabling a new security and manageability infrastructure for the PC platform.
The device operates under the FWH interface and protocol. The hardware features of this
device include a unique Random Number Generator (RNG), register-based locking, and
hardware-based locking.